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Wasp Mantisfly

Climaciella brunnea

Photo by C. Hedstrom
Published on Project Noah
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45.1638, -121.094

Field Notes

Description:

wasp mantisfly, (Neuroptera: Mantispidae). Found by beating sheet on Alder near the Deschutes River just outside of Maupin, OR

Notes:

Larvae of this family will attach to spiders and wait for the spiders to lay eggs. They will then enter the egg sacs and consume the eggs before pupating.

Species ID Suggestions

Wasp Mantisfly

Climaciella brunnea

Comments (28)

wow! awesome picture and awesome animal!
Great spotting C. Hedstrom,congrats on the well deserved SOTD ans thanks for sharing
Unusual coloring for that species, but I couldn't find a better match either.
Very nice image. Well done.
Very cool blog btw C. Hedstrom Thanks for that.
Very cool find! This family is a really interesting group of insects!
I just read your write-up. It's very educating as well as entertaining. Great work.
Also, be sure to check out my write up about the complicated lifecycle of this fascinating organism here: https://oregonbeatsheet.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/9-vi-2014-mantispidae/
Thanks for the comments,everyone! Mark, thanks for the ID. It shouldn't have taken so long, I was just unsure about labeling it brunnea, in case there were others in Oregon. Apparently that's the most common NA species (maybe the only one), it's probably correct.
Congratulations on the SOTD. Great photo. Can't believe we don't have species id yet.. a challenge.
Chris, congrats! This beauty has earned you Spotting of the Day! Thanks for your great contributions and we can't wait to see what you snap next. We've also shared the news with our Facebook and Twitter fans: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/photos/a.10150595289465603.674700.10150120463815603/10154774932345603/?type=1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/528052596393926656
Great story! I hadn't known all that neat stuff about Mantispid larvae.
Thanks again, everybody! I did a write up about this insect family here: http://oregonbeatsheet.wordpress.com
Excellent picture, awesome, impressive, congrats, you are the best !!!
It is very strange. It seems very dangerous. It is of Peñarol soccer team. Maybe, If it pricks you a lot it may be dangerous...We are lucky that we don´t have them in Uruguay. Form III Sky Blue Saint George´s School
Incredible , never knew about the spider egg parasitism !Thank you for the information ! Wasp reminds me of transformers movie ! :D
Incredible creature! Thanks for showing this one.
Wow, looks like someone made it up, doesn't it?
It looks like a cross-dresser, must know his way around spider webs pretty well!
wow...looks like an experiment that went wrong, but it looks fascinating!

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